Hi

I can weigh in on this!!!

A breeding farm that ended up with a mare that I had owned (she was claimed off of me, then later traded off for a filly when she did not go on), had a horrific case of almost all their brood mares die due to feeding Silage (haylage they call it).  They had had the odd death hear and there and it was alwyas credidted to other things (later it was proven that at least a couple of the mares that had died before the major loss of horses occured was due to contaminated haylage), anyway, it is figured that a dead animals contaminated the section off hay that they 29 mares ate.  Of this number I think 26 died from what I understand, and the other 3 were later sent to slaughter in Kitchener Sale in Ontario (illigally I might add), as they were too ill to survive or be productive if they did live.  The rest of the mares that this farm owned were in another field (including the mare that I used to own), so they did not eat this particular section of hay.  Later is was proved by the local vets that this is not suitable hay for horses, but this guy presisted in feeding it for at least another 10 years, with more than the occassional death.  His farm was in Northern Ontario and hay is hard to process there, and to grow, and too expensive to ship in that kind of volume.  I guess he figured that the odd dead horse was a fair trade??? Not sure on his logic!!!

Anyway, I couldn't get the mare I had back, (no money to keep her, I was out of the business when all this happened and was struggling just to feed the people in my life), or I would have got her back.

To the rest of your question, I feed second cut if possible, but most importantly I feed as clean a hay as I can, and for my IR horse I have to also watch the sugar content (the same for my tie-up horse), I have no problem feeding alfalfa hay, have all of my horse carreer, as has my farm raised husband.  Usually we have alflafa hay and first cut, and give a mix depending on the horse.  If a horse has asidosis I feed as much alfalfa hay as I can, as it seems to act as a tums, and it also puts weight on these hard to keep horses, the same for ulcer horses.  My IR horse carries so much weight we usually feed him a real mixed bag of hay (a local farmer we know grows a very mixed field) and his hay has tested low sugar, so Che lives on that, as since I have not been able to find alfalfa hay this late in the year so are my other two.

But as a rule for us I would say as clean a hay as possible, not too grassy as the horses don't like it, and second cut if at all possible, but first cut ahead of old second no matter the quality of the second once the new crop comes and is in the mow for at least a month.  Dust in the race world is the worst for us, as for any alergy horse as well.  That includes loose broken down hay bits from end of the year hay.  We also steam our hay for alergens, and as it will somewhat lower the sugar content, and if am still worried about sugar I will soak the hay.  I will not feed dusty hay, and will go to hay cubes ahead of hay that is not clean.  However we wet our hay cubes, to prevent choke, and this is not good for a horse that has to train or race the next day, as it is too heavy a feed.  So one thing has to be weighed agains the other.  Also my horses ALWAYS have hay in front of them (or hay cubes if I am desperate in the short term to find good hay), even right before they are shipped to race, which I know is not tradition, but I have found that they are better off with hay, and just a little grain/feed before they go to the races.  All three of my horses have been checked for ulcers and while two came with them (the third I raised from a yearling), neither has them now...

Hay is a big deal to me, as you can tell, I can also recomend (in the ON area) a product called Fibre Nuggets from Shurgain Feeds for hay replacement, and for horses that have sugar issues.  This is 'breakfast' for all of mine, and for Che when we had to get his sugar down this is all he got (plus all the hay he wanted) for the first 3 months of getting him right.  You don't have to water them down like regualr hay cubes, and they will not choke a horse, they also have natural selinium in them, plus other vit. minerals etc.

Anyway, for me that is my 'hay' story.

take care

Deb McDaid

Tiocfaidh Ar La Stable

Cheers from Che, Tattoo, and Steel